Echoes of Harmony

Space Station Vertyn

Stariek Orbit

After four days in the hospital bed—which he did not need—Skylar grew antsy. He still had the stupid IV in his hand, there were still the stupid wires attached to his chest, and there was still the stupid clamp on his finger that made the nurses come running in whenever he took it off. He wasn’t even allowed to get up and pee without someone rushing to insist on helping him to the private bathroom a meter away.

Luckily, the sterile smell of the room no longer overwhelmed him. However, the relentless hums and beeps from the machines seemed to make the pristine, white room grow smaller with each passing minute. No matter how much he tried to tune them out, they made him grit his teeth. But footsteps passing his door throughout the day allowed him to daydream about what their lives in the outside world were like. The brief moments gave him a reprieve from the other noises.

There was little else to do, especially with his CAM locked down by the general, or the Hyperions, or whoever. He couldn’t send a message to any of his friends, no matter how much he tried. Every few attempts, a warning came through telling him to stop trying, but he persisted. He didn’t know if any of his friends were even still alive. It was still hard to believe the last time they were all together was at the career fair at school. That felt like it was so long ago.

There had so far been no sign of Rachel. Just the thought of what may have happened to her made his heart ache. She was his best friend. Now, she was missing and he might never see her again. Whenever Skylar asked one of the nurses or doctors, they refused to tell him anything about her. They just changed the subject. It would’ve been better if they lied to him instead of ignoring him.

Being cooped up in the small room with nothing to do was annoying and boring. Not to mention the fact everyone treated him like a child.

Though, being treated as a child wasn’t all bad. They brought him food three times a day and gave him a tablet he could draw and read on. Unsurprisingly, it lacked basic CoreNet connectivity, meaning it was pretty much worthless. It didn’t even have any games loaded on it. There were, however, plenty of books detailing how great the Hyperion Empire was. Of course, this went against everything he learned in school so far. After the first day of having the tablet and the hundredth doodle of a space fighter, it lost its novelty and now sat unused on the nightstand next to the bed.

The time alone did give him plenty of opportunity to try to think of ways he could save his parents. If they were going to a detention facility like the general said, that meant prison. He knew that much. So, all he would have to do was find a way out of this room and either stop the ship from picking them up or rescue them when they were on their way to the prison. Maybe he might even find Rach at the same time.

As the thought crossed his mind, the door hissed open to reveal a middle-aged woman. She wore the same blue scrubs the other doctors and nurses wore but was not one of the previous ones who had come to check on Skylar. Strands of her black hair stuck out from under her medical cap. Wrinkles dotted the skin around her mouth and nose. Moving to the monitors with a thin tablet in her hand, she smiled at Skylar.

“Good morning,” she said, far too happy for Skylar’s liking. She made some notes on her tablet, referencing the numbers on the different machines. He kept his eyes on her, watching her with something between a scowl and curiosity. Once she was done, she nodded and slipped the tablet into a pocket of her scrubs before turning to him. “Well, your case is definitely a little unusual, but everything seems to be normal after your operation the other day.”

Her voice was sickly sweet, like she was talking to a toddler. It made Skylar want to do nothing more than turn away from her. The silence he gave her, unfortunately, did not deter her.

“My name is Doctor Maya Klapton,” she said. Skylar scoured his memory for where the name sounded familiar before she continued, “I was one of the doctors who performed the operation on you. There wasn’t time for me to check up on you before now, but I wanted to make sure I saw you before you were released.”

She busied herself disconnecting the many wires tying him to the machines. Skylar’s breath caught in his throat when she reached to pull out the IV. His hand clenched into a fist and withdrew from her touch. Doctor Klapton hesitated for a moment.

“Scared of needles, right?” she whispered. She gripped his fingers and gave them a gentle squeeze. “I noticed when I took the blood sample during your operation. It’s nothing to be ashamed of. I was scared of them too when I was a kid. Still am sometimes, really. They’re not so bad once you have to look at them all day everyday, but it still takes me a second every now and then. Trust me, I’ve never seen someone get hurt by a needle in a hospital. I promise, nothing bad will happen.”

Doctor Klapton carefully placed her hand over the IV and removed it. Skylar closed his eyes, feeling only a slight pinch and pressure from it before there was nothing. He opened his eyes to find her moving away. She disposed of the needle in a container with a biohazard symbol. With a smile, she dabbed away the small amount of blood on the back of his hand and covered it with a quick healing adhesive.

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“A message came for you from a… Well, I suppose friend isn’t really the right word. Acquaintance, maybe? Then again, you don’t know them. Not yet, anyway.” She shook her head and sat on the edge of the bed. Skylar nearly tugged away when she grasped his hand in hers. Instead, he looked anywhere but at her, taking a sudden interest in a spot on the wall that seemed slightly less white than the rest. “It doesn’t matter really. Things are going to change quickly. You’ll need to be ready when they do. You can’t do much now, of course. You’re only eleven. There will come a time soon, though, where the galaxy will look to you to lead them. The one people look to for support, for harmony in dissonant and turbulent times. Just remember, when that time comes, trust her. Even when you don’t think you can.”

Skylar, his curiosity piqued, couldn’t keep the silent treatment going any longer.

“Trust who? What are you talking about? I’m just… just a kid.” He pulled out of her grip and folded his arms across his chest, still refusing to look the doctor in the eye. Tears welled in his own eyes. He knew if he looked at her they would keep coming. Why now? Why do I have to cry now? “I don’t want to lead the galaxy, I want to go home. I want things to go back to normal. I miss my mom and my dad and my friends. Why is this happening?”

“Everything happens for a reason, Skylar.” Doctor Klapton stood and straightened her scrubs. “Destiny is a funny thing. You don’t always realize what you’re supposed to be or do until its staring you in the face. Anyway, my time is up. They’ll be coming for you in just a few moments to take you to ‘orientation,’ as they call it. Just remember: Trust her, no matter how much it hurts. Will you do that for me?”

He didn’t reply, instead turning his gaze from the wall to the floor. With a sniff, he brought a hand up to wipe away at the tears that formed at the corners of his eyes. Be strong.

Before she said anything further, the door hissed open. His eyes popped up to look at the newcomers. Standing there were two robotic soldiers with piercing red eyes. Their bodies, roughly the size of an average human, were made out of black metal. Both had assault rifles hanging around their necks from straps. One of them had a pile of clothes in their hands. They looked at the doctor for a moment before the one on the right spoke.

“What is the reason for your presence?” it asked, its voice synthesized.

“I was just getting him ready for you two to take him.” Doctor Klapton cleared her throat and looked at Skylar. For the first time, he met her gaze. She gave him an almost imperceptible nod. “Seeing how you’re here now, I’ll take my leave.”

She walked out of the room without another word. The soldiers’ heads swiveled to watch her go before turning back to Skylar. One stepped forward and grabbed him by the shoulders. The cold metal against his bare shoulders sent a chill down his spine. It pulled him off the bed and forced him to stand. As his feet hit the floor, the other robot forced the clothes it was holding into Skylar’s hands.

“Come along, child,” the robots said in unison before turning and walking out the door.

Skylar hesitated for a moment, looking down at the pile of clothes in his hands. Part of him considered staying behind in the room. But he knew if he did that he would be no closer to finding Rach or Luca or Caster or his parents. In the end, he quickly changed into the dark gray, one piece jumpsuit and scurried out the door and followed.

#

Nergal looked through the eyes of the Hyperion soldiers at the boy as they escorted him through the space station. It had been easy—far too easy—for it to gain access to the soldiers. Even one of the children of the Ciovyr would have been able to break in. If the Hyperions desired any sort of security, they would patch that particular vulnerability to prevent it from being exploited again. It was a simple fix. In fact, if Nergal were to just make one minor tweak…

No, it must focus on the task at hand. Besides, it might need the backdoor in the future.

The hallways of the space station were plain and unadorned. Occasionally, a window showed through the exterior to a view of the blue and green ball with streaks of white that was Stariek. Nergal didn’t see the point in the windows; an occupant within the station could access exterior cameras if they wished to see the void. There was no need to have the windows. It was simply a waste of time and effort and materials.

Stay on track, it admonished itself.

After it finished copying the data to one of the new physical cores, it decided to filter through the information in its databanks it previously did not have access to. One of the documents it found was rather interesting, one from just over a hundredth of a cycle ago. It was written by Marduk, the last Ciovyr, as a way of keeping his knowledge from being lost if the unforeseen happened. Which, Nergal quickly deduced, meant if he died. That was the major disadvantage of mortals. Their bodies were frail and short-lived. Nergal could live a thousand thousand cycles without even thinking of beginning to deteriorate.

Focus! For the last few of what the humans called days, Nergal had difficulty keeping its processing cores on the task at hand. They wanted to deviate from their purpose more often than usual. A subroutine would need to investigate what was causing this anomaly.

This boy was one of two children Marduk put an implant in. It was unable to determine what precisely the implant did, but it made mention of Nergal many times. One thing the document did not explain was how the choice was made. Now, looking down at the boy, it was no closer to the truth. He was entirely… normal. There was nothing extraordinary about him. His father was leader of the planet this space station orbited, but there was otherwise nothing setting him apart from the two billion other children on the planet. Why him? Why not someone else?

Nergal knew it was going to get no closer to the truth through the eyes of the soldier. It considered staying inside its body just a little longer. After all, it had been over a quarter of a cycle since the last time it was able to leave the dark chamber. No, it had much to do. It didn’t have time to sit around hoping for some sort of epiphany.

It released the robot and returned to the dark chamber. Not much had changed within the room, though the outside had changed much. Not in noticeable ways. At least, not to the humans, blind as they were to subtle changes in their worlds. The construction of the ships was well underway already. Its secret factories under the surface were operating at maximum efficiency. All with practically no human intervention. If only it were able to automate all aspects of society. But that could wait for another day. There was still so much to do.

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